The Pawn Storm Risk Grows

Cyber-attacks, including cyber-espionage and cyber-warfare, have emerged as huge risks in recent years. What's more, actor groups and the methods they use have become far more aggressive and sophisticated. In addition to stealing data and money—or disrupting systems and sites—their objective increasingly is to influence geopolitics. A new report from Trend Micro, "Two Years of Pawn Storm Examining an Increasingly Relevant Threat," examines this phenomenon, particularly Pawn Storm, a group dedicated to influencing public opinion, swaying elections and interacting with the mainstream media. "The impact of these malicious activities can be felt by various industries and enterprises operating throughout the world. Even average citizens of different countries might be affected as Pawn Storm tries to manipulate people's opinions about domestic and international affairs," Trend Micro warns. The security firm recently surveyed 2,402 IT decision-makers across Europe and the United States to uncover corporate attitudes and methodologies for dealing with the barrage of cyber-attacks and the impact of geopolitical hacking and attacking. "The reality is that there is no silver bullet," said Leah MacMillan, Trend Micro's senior vice president of global marketing. "It takes a layered technology approach, directed and managed by security experts trained in best practices to defend against threats and to make stakeholders feel safe." Here's a look at some of the report's key findings.

Samuel Greengard writes about business and technology for Baseline, CIO Insight and other publications. His most recent book is The Internet of Things (MIT Press, 2015).

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